Forever, Rena
by Sarah's Knight
Summary: This story is a made-up PA sequence from Star Ocean 2, taking place in Giveaway and revolving around a party consisting of Rena, Claude, Noel, Celine, Precis, Dias, and Opera, in which Claude is the narrator. I hope it meets your approval. -Sarah's Knight


_- __Forever, Rena . . . .__ -_

_(Giveaway, Nede - December 20)_

"So, this is Professor Noel's home village - Giveaway," Rena murmured softly, gazing so dreamily up into the sky that she appeared on the verge of collapsing into slumber on the snow-covered ground where she stood. ". . . It is so . . . _beautiful _. . . ."

Finally noticing the solemn state that Rena - ever cheerful as we all knew her to be - had seemed to have fallen into ever since we had arrived in Nede, I began to wonder at that moment, _just what is it that you cannot help but ponder in that cloudy mind of yours, Rena Lanford?_She turned to see that I was gazing with some concern at her, and returned a glance that seemed to assure, "Sorry for my discomfiture, but I'll be all right, Mr. Claude." Somehow, none of our other friends seemed to notice the exchange.

"I've never known you to allow even something like the burden of carrying the fate of the entire universe on your own shoulders to make you so sadly thoughtful all of a sudden, 'little sister'," Dias Flac arrogantly tossed back his head, shaking away some snow that had fallen into his hair in the process, and cast a what I assumed to be playfully baleful eye at Rena, with a grim half-smile that reminded me much of the wicked smile of the fire-haired stranger (who seemed to be the leader of the God's Ten Wisemen that we had had a dangerous run-in with a few days ago in Eluria). But then again, that was the sort of expression that Dias would wear on his face pretty much all of the time.

"Thank you, I guess," Rena attempted a slight giggle. "I'll . . . take that one as a compliment."

Dias returned to his usual emotionless state upon those previous words from the Expellian (or was she truly?) female. "You all know quite well by now that I tend to be a loner during these few times that we can go about our lives in peace, and not in war, so I'll be going off on my own, now." And off Dias went, up the snowy stone path that wound through Giveaway.

"Always too proud, and far too untrusting, to admit that sometimes even he needs the assistance of friends," Precis sounded somewhat playfully aggravated, but despite her words it wasn't difficult to see the admiring way that she gazed after the reticent-natured swordsman as he disappeared off into the horizon, and she bounded carelessly off after him without another word, her golden ponytail bouncing crazily in the chill wind of the snowfall.

_ Perhaps Dias won't truly have to become a sworn adversary after all,_ I thought, sensing a wicked gleam in my eye. _With Precis chasing after him, he won't be able to . . . get in my way, any longer. Heh heh, doesn't that make you happy, Rena?_

Rena just tried to smile, and for a brief moment her hairpin appeared to glow, as if to add the luminescence of a halo to that already angelic face of hers. "I'm glad that Miss Precis is still as cheerful as ever," she mused.

"Being here in Nede again much make you think a lot about your mysterious past," I cast a sidelong glance at her. "But no matter what may have occurred in that past, you can always count on the rest of us to faithfully stand by you. Fate has undoubtedly brought us all together, and fate will not allow us to ever separate from or betray each other. Am I not correct, Professor Noel?"

"I can easily say that Claude speaks the truth, and I haven't even been a part of this 'family' very long," the aging Nedian grinned, and scratched an eyebrow.

"Right, as if you are not madly in love with her, Mr. Claude," Opera whispered to me. Admittedly, I flushed in embarrassed anger. Noel and Celine both laughed softly, but luckily Rena did not seem to hear anything. Out loud to Rena, Opera said wistfully, "We are not a part of this rag-tag band only to betray you, Miss Rena. You can trust us."

I assumed that Miss Opera would stay long enough to follow up and make a heroic speech out of her last few words, but she just wandered casually off into Giveaway, turning back at one point with an assuring smile on her face. "Uhhh, . . . thank you, Miss Opera," Rena was taken aback.

"Noel, darling," Celine spoke, wisping her silver hair out of her face as she turned to him, "You mentioned that this village is actually your former home, at least until you gave up your career as a college professor here, correct?"

The scholarly Nedian sounded somewhat regretful as he replied, "Yes, well, I couldn't risk allowing the people of Giveaway to find out that I had access to the database files on the previous war Nede had fought against the Wisemen that are kept at the university library, or that I had gained much more magical power than the average Nedian had over my years as a professor under Giveaway University, else the Nedians would surely have suspected me of actually aiding the enemy upon their return to Expel. I confess that I was certain the Wisemen would eventually break free of their prison in Eternity Space, no matter how hard the people of Nede would try to keep them imprisoned there with their magical powers. And so, I decided to give up my life here in Giveaway and live further up north alone, before anyone found out any of this about me.

"However, I intend to make up for the past by assisting all of you in ending the threat of God's Ten Wisemen for good, so that the galaxy need not fear its own demise at the hands of such evil ever again. As long as we'll be staying here for a while, I might as well enjoy being back home. I'll just be sure to keep a low profile." And off he went.

Celine hung her head a little, her long hair appearing to have lost its vibrant color as she said, "Sometimes I wonder if we really can trust friends with such dark pasts," she murmured, sadly watching Noel as he ventured toward the northern end of the village. When she finally looked back to see that Rena shot her a reprimanding look, she tried to smile assuringly and said, "Sorry, Rena sweetheart. I was just thinking out loud. Come now, let us go find out if there is a dress shop of some sort in this village so that we can find ways of making ourselves even more irresistible to men."

Was it just my lovesick imagination, or did Rena glance momentarily at me and blush when Celine said that? "Um, . . . sure, Celine," she nodded hurriedly, and quickly left my side to join Celine's. "I shall be awaiting you here when the clock strikes the next hour then, dear mistresses," I laughed and humbly bowed as Celine and Rena both began to journey away.

". . . Knock off the formalities, please, . . . Mr. Claude," Rena attempted to give me the same reproaching glance that she had previously given Celine, but she could only turn up her tiny nose and wriggle her pointed ears as she spoke sharply to me.

Celine giggled. "Of course, Claude darling." And so off they went, as well, with Celine mercilessly teasing a blushing Rena until they disappeared from sight.

The Giveaway Sanctuary was even more marveling in its interior than its outside appearance, which Rena had been staring up in wonder at but moments before when we were all still gathered at the entrance to the village. I took some few moments to visit the altar and put in as many good words with my God (which I often wondered if was the same God that Rena and the other people of Arlia believed in) for both my friends' and my own future safety as I could, and when I had done so, I was greeted by many priests and priestesses of the church who somehow recognized that I was definitely not from Nede and so rose from their vigilance over the other Nedians gathered at the altar to openly offer their gratitude that such an outsider as I had braved an attempt to commune with those of their kind.

Even one particular priestess, who, by pure coincidence I am sure, reminded me of someone I once knew from back in my own world, had been so driven by her curiosity that she inquired if I happened to be one of the mysterious strangers who were said to have suddenly appeared in Nede after transcending space all the way from Expel when it had been destroyed a few days ago. Seeing really no obvious reason to be secretive around Nedians, I answered with somewhat of a humble "yes", and immediately every deacon that had been serving in the sanctuary that day gave their sincerest blessing on their god's behalf, now realizing that it was no doubt the band I belonged to that had a chance at driving the ten former Nedians they trembled in fear at the names of out of Nede for good.

I was grateful to know that all of these holy men stood behind my friends and I, but it dawned on me how strange it was that word of our unexpected appearance in Nede managed to travel all the way out here to Giveaway in such a short time in the first place, even if Nede herself was a very small world in comparison to Earth or even Expel. I also wondered how a tiny and insignificant village like Giveaway had even learned of so much as the Wisemen's return to Nede yet, anyway, but decided that the differences among our many and varied races didn't really matter, as long as – and I told the Nedians this out loud – we all believed in the same cause of love. That made it reason enough for those of us who had come from Expel to protect Nede from the same force of darkness that had destroyed the world we arrived from, for, no matter what race of humans we might be a part of, every person in the known universe was just that – human.

I communed with the good Nedians I had found in the sanctuary for a long while, but eventually said farewell and departed to search for my other friends who were probably still dispersed all throughout Giveaway, no doubt exploring, and make sure that they weren't causing any trouble.

And so it turned out that I found the Expellian girl named Rena curiously wandering the great halls of Giveaway University, which lay at the northernmost end of the village, atop a snowy hill at the end of the stone path that wound through town. As soon as I stepped past the two front doors, there she stood a short distance ahead, perched a few steps up a wide staircase made of ivory, though Rena had not noticed me just yet.

In fact, she was currently speaking with one of Professor Noel's former colleagues, who was positioned a few feet away from Rena, lounging quite unprofessionally against the railing as he spoke. Knowing Rena's naturally inquisitive nature, I guessed that her new acquaintance had been imparting certain knowledge of Nede's past to her. Upon this thought I heard myself chuckle softly, remembering the time several days ago back in the village of Linga when I discovered Rena contentedly exploring the same type of establishment to find out all that she could about the sciences of her own world.

As they spoke, I could see that Rena's face was tilted in a sort of curious repose slightly to one side, hands folded in front of her and ankles crossed over each other in the usual Expellian maiden-like stance. Her eyes appeared to shine rather brightly, even against the golden sunlight that had begun to stream through the stained-glass windows that were embedded into the upper walls of the front hall. Before I could think of making any sort of move out of the room, Noel's colleague had left to attend to his usual business, and I suddenly found that only Rena was left in the near vicinity. Upon that realization, I began to grow somewhat nervous, for, although I could not tell just why, lately my simply being near Rena when there was no one else around caused the normal function of both my thoughts and speech to suffer.

The elf-eared female was turned towards the top of the staircase she was standing on, still gazing a bit solemnly in the direction that her friend had gone off in, so I braved an attempt to sneak quietly past her without her awareness, but of course I failed. She turned back towards me just as I neared the steps, on account of hearing the nervous gulp that I vainly tried to keep from escaping my throat, and she smiled her innocent smile. "Hello, Mr. Claude. Out exploring as well?"

I stopped in my tracks, fully aware that I currently was wearing the expression of a puppy who had been caught chewing on its master's rug, and, horrified, heard myself stupidly utter in my defense, "What? Oh, yes, of course . . . . Err, what else would I ever be doing?"

Rena just giggled and a nodded a short farewell, then strolled off in her naively cute fashion down the staircase and to another room on the first floor. _Sometimes_, I wondered to myself_, I must wonder how it is possible that not every single man who crosses her path is not left feeling as idiotic as I am feeling now_._Just too adorable to turn away from, are you not, Rena?_ I thought, and continued on my way to the upstairs library, where I ended up finding Precis.

She was located among the many bookshelves in the upper east corner of the room, heavily involved in reading up on the past war-torn history of Nede, to find out, I presumed, all that she could about our little-known enemies, God's Ten Wisemen, whom our particular circle of would-be heroes would soon be fighting against. It turned out that my presumptions were wrong. "You must be a faster reader than most Expellians are adept to become, Precis," I stated as way of greeting, glancing with some befuddlement at the fifty-something leather-bound books that lay scattered on the floor around her. And here she had not even been gone from the group for more than a couple of hours.

Precis stopped skimming the ink-stained pages in her hands immediately and turned to me with a blank sort of stare. In the few moments of embarrassed silence, the only response she gave was a single, undefined blink of her violet-colored eyes. I assumed that I must have caught her off-guard while her mind was elsewhere, so I decided to try another conversation starter. "Curious to find out more on our friends The Ten Wisemen than the good mayor of Central City intended for us to know, dear Precis?' I tried to smile.

Another moment passed; I was beginning to wonder if I had lost Precis completely, but then her childish face softened and the fire indicating signs of life rekindled in her eyes, as though she just now realized that it was me who had sneaked up on her in the darkened library – not a ghost. "N - Not . . . exactly, Claude," she breathed a heavy sigh of playful aggravation, and slid the book in her hands back into its rightful place on the shelf, but then she turned back around to gaze out at the afternoon sun just outside one of the tiny windows of the library, which was giving way to evening. "Actually, I . . . ." She began to speak, but suddenly fell silent, as if she were wanting to protect a secret of some sort.

"What's wrong, Precis?" I raised an eyebrow. "You sound as though there is something you know that we don't . . . .?"

Precis slid her glasses across the top of her hair and all the way back to the edge of her ponytail with one hand, which I gathered was her indication of wishing to change a subject she found uncomfortable. ". . . Please do not think poorly of me for this, Claude," she gave in. "But, in truth, I was looking for any books describing Nede's past that might contain records of any members of Rena's original family or perhaps Rena herself, or even any trace of historical events that she might have played a role in, because, well, . . . not only am I almost positive that Rena really is from this world – and not Expel – but I also have reason to believe that she did not exactly come from . . . this _time_, either."

I was aghast at these assumptions. Precis continued, "In fact, I presume that she may have been born all the way back in the time Mayor Narl mentioned when God's Ten Wisemen first arose to make war on the Nedians: 3.7 billion years in the past."

A lot of mixed thoughts were running through my mind at once, but somehow I managed to find the words to ask Precis, "Just what makes you believe all of this, my friend?" Before she could answer, however, I held up a hand to silence her. "Wait, . . . never mind. I have had enough trouble with pondering such mysteries for a lifetime, already."

Precis nodded appreciatively and returned to her reading. "Understood. Now then, be gone with you, Mr. Claude," she cleverly chided, no longer even looking my way. "You already tried your hand long ago at picking up on a cute girl such as I." As you dear readers may have guessed, without needing much more persuasion I turned tail and left the library.

Once back outside Giveaway University, I traveled south down the stone path in hopes of catching up with Rena, but instead found the familiar face of Dias Flac just off the path in the front yard of the dress shop, where Celine had earlier said she would be going for the purpose of "making herself even more irresistible to men." Growing a bit curious at the scene before me (for Dias looked to be watching over a small child, who looked remarkably like Leon Geeste from back in Expel, while he was building a snowman in what appeared to be Celine's image), I decided to wander away from my original intentions for the moment and spoke to the swordsman, with a laugh, "You, Dias Flac, looking after little children?"

Dias turned with a slight though grim smile, narrowing his dark eyes at me. "Actually, that is exactly what I am doing," he replied coolly. "At least until the child's mother is finished having her hands tied with Celine. The dress shop owner must have seen me close by Celine as she was coming up the path, assumed I was friends with her, and therefore asked me to keep this little guy out of trouble while she and Celine would be conducting business."

I glanced momentarily at the Nedian child. "Ah, so this is what happened. Celine must be in there adorning herself with every article of clothing available as we speak, and just before your new little friend was ushered outside to play by his mother, he took one fatal glance at Celine and, sadly, found her beauty worthy enough of forever being immortalized in the art of snowman replication."

"That's right!" the youth suddenly piped up from nearby, as he began the process of smoothing out the finishing touches on the lifeless copy of Celine. "What do you think of it, Mr. Dias?"

Dias turned long enough to give him an encouraging smile, then to me he stated, "Miss Celine is a very vain person, and vanity can be a terrible attribute, Mr. Claude." He coldly laughed.

"Yet she is still a good-hearted person, nonetheless," I countered.

He nodded. "Of course; don't misunderstand my words. And you must admit that this is certainly an impressive replica, having been formed in the space of less than an hour. Not such a great misuse of the youth's artistic skill."

"I would tend to disagree on that one," I shook my head. "But might I ask why you wait so intently for Miss Celine?"

Dias almost looked taken aback, but he casually replied, "I merely have some matters on my mind that I would like to speak of with the self-proclaimed master sage. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I have always found Celine, overall sweet in nature as she might be, to be the type that is never really dependent on any sort of escort from someone of the opposite gender. In other words, she differs much greatly from the other heroines in this band," I looked over at the Nedian child's handiwork, and then felt it necessary to change the subject, considering the degree of maliciousness in which Dias was now gazing at me with. "How odd; he has been careful to add in every possible detail to this image. The exact shape of Celine's figure, the texture of her silver hair, . . . even that aggravating expression of arrogance on her face; . . . it all looks exactly the same. Quite amazing."

"If I might drift away from the subject for just a moment, Claude," Dias' expression did not falter one bit as he spoke. "I must say that I have been meaning to thank you for having watched out for my 'little sister' while I was away from the group in Expel, as I had formerly asked of you. It dawns on me, after all, that you must truly care for Rena."

The manner in which he spoke was far too challenging for me to ignore. "Nice turn of phrase," I felt my face grow hot as the anger I felt only toward Dias in our rivalry began to well up inside my heart again. But I then realized that, though it seemed that Dias opposed me simply because of my strong feelings towards Rena and the fact that I had been striving all this time to develop my skills in swordsmanship as well as he had, his words were actually, in rare instance, words of gratitude towards me, so I restrained both my tongue and my sword. "But, if you must know the truth, there is something that I wish to tell your 'little sister'. Where might she be as of now?"

Dias turned to see Celine come out onto the front porch of the nearby shop, wrapping up whatever business it was that she had with the owner, then he brushed back some hair that had fallen into his eyes back over his ear. "I witnessed Rena entering the sanctuary just down the road over there. Quite faithful in more religious priorities, isn't she?"

I allowed my hand to stray away from the hilt of my sword. "We seem to have a strange although fated friendship, Dias," I tried to imitate his unusually reticent, on-the-surface fearless demeanor. "We were, after all, once enemies of each other who were after a common goal, it would seem, and have come to be allies upon Rena's will. Yet, a bit of the old rivalry still remains. Why?"

Dias shook his head. "I refuse to answer 'why', Claude," he murmured, lost in thought. "For you are aware of the answer to that, already, and you only wish to hear the same from me to restore your own confidence in the beliefs that you've established for yourself since the day you arrived in Expel. Perhaps what made us . . . rival competitors, shall I say, was the fact that we both have fought very hard to master swordsmanship, and we each assumed that we could prove our superiority by fighting and defeating the other, although I dare say that your skills just may have surpassed my own by now. Perhaps we should cross swords again sometime to find out."

I was warded from saying anything in reply to that by the crookedly emotionless fashion in which Dias spoke to me just then, as though his heart would really have not been affected at all if he really_had_ killed me in our fight back in Lacour, no matter how much our agreement to meet each other on the battlefield had worried Rena and the others greatly in the first place. I was, strangely, pleased to hear those words of praise from Dias, of all people, nonetheless.

"I suppose that I will be going now; I can see Celine coming this way," I gave Dias a final nod and returned to the stone path to resume finding Rena.

However, that plan turned out to be a failure rather quickly once again, for no sooner had I returned to that path that I caught the sight of the very ends of Miss Opera's long golden hair trailing into the village tavern that was a few steps back up the road toward Giveaway University, and, growing curious at this, I followed. _This simply did not match Miss Opera's seemingly refined and dignified nature,_ I thought. _I usually do not find it becoming of me to attempt prying into my friends' pasts, even if they all do come from different worlds, but I think I'd best find out what she is up to_.

And so I did. Miss Opera was much more intent on acquiring a mug of Nedian ale to rid of her current burdens than I had anticipated, for I saw that she was already comfortably situated at a circular wooden table on the floor below the balcony where I walked. I rounded the inner walls until I found a set of steps equally as old and wooden as the tables that were placed in linear formations along the ground floor. I hesitated at this point, wondering if the Nedian bar crowd could be as rough as the Earthlings'. "Mr. Claude, whatever are you doing way up there, all alone without female companionship?" I was assured by the gentle voice of Miss Opera, who had spotted me and was softly waving with one hand from her table in the middle of the vast room whose walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of cold gray stone.

Eyeing Miss Opera's content-on-its-way-to-becoming-complacent face with some suspicion, I reluctantly took up my position across the table from her, and said without much conviction, "You are certainly entitled to be taking it easy during this hour of respite from battle." I nodded at the frosty mug of ale set before her.

Opera tried to smile, but could only be successful after emitting a few soft hiccups. "I am a bit embarrassed for you to find me here in this state, my friend," she giggled, truly looking – what you would say if you were in a forgiving mood – embarrassed, just as she had said. "I suppose that my disposition is just a tiny fraction less maidenlike than most female creatures'."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Is that why you've always felt somewhat set apart from Celine and the others," I deliberately spoke this more in the form of a statement than a question. "My dear Miss Opera, your presence here in a bar, especially one with such an unusually solemn atmosphere, certainly does not strike you with any less femininity. Why must you fret so at having to dwell here among creatures of a differing race and kingdom? Do you truly feel out of place fighting for the life of a galaxy filled with hundreds of such races?"

"N - No, not at all, Mr. Claude," she suddenly looked flustered. "And I am grateful to hear those kind words from you. It's just that . . . ."

". . . You simply thought of yourself as somewhat inferior to the people of both Expel and Nede, and therefore felt as though you could not truly befriend Rena, Celine, or even Precis, for that matter," I finished Miss Opera's sentence. "Surely they were never unkind to you in all of those times that we were all separated from each other?"

"Never, Mr. Claude. I certainly did not intend to imply that," she sounded regretful, but was temporarily stopped short of any more words by another hiccup. "For one, I find it very difficult to imagine someone as kindhearted as Miss Rena ever harboring prejudices toward any other creature, no matter what race, especially . . ." - and Miss Opera said these next few words in a hushed whisper, regarding Rena with a certain degree of sincere, heartful pity - ". . . when Miss Rena herself understands the feeling of being so alienated among the people of her own world, her being not Expellian and not knowing who she truly is, regardless of how the people of Expel must have cared for her. And both Miss Celine and Miss Precis possess kind hearts as well; . . . probably the reason all seven of us were brought together to save this blessed universe from God's Ten Wisemen, Mr. Claude."

With some admiration for Miss Opera's ability to trust others with such willing intent, I took one moment to carefully study the pleasantly feminine face that stared contentedly at me from across the table, and was very slightly stained with shadows cast by the haunting light of the ignited candle that sat by itself in the table's center. I was amused to hear her attempt to suppress yet another hiccup. "I mean this in all due respect toward you, dear friend, but is it that tiny third eye of yours that so plainly reveals your Tetragenes nationality and puts you at such unease while trapped in another world quite different from your own?"

"Hardly. I've at last learned to feel as though there is a second home for me here among the good people of Nede, and the Expellians were very kind to me as well," Opera returned, smiling sweetly (and, I regret to say, very stupidly, as well, in her half-lit state), using whatever tactic she knew of to divert my attention from the fact that her speech was consistently being impeded by increasingly frequent hiccups. "It is fortunate that, in such dire times as these, the many races of humans in this galaxy are united with enough acceptance and love for each other to strive after defeating their common enemy. Such a shame that the dear people of Expel fell at the same evil hands."

"Then what exactly is it that troubles you so, Miss Opera?" I smiled as graciously as I could, as if to assure her that I had taken no heed of the rose-colored shadow that bridged across her nose. Poor girl. As if it isn't enough that, however cute she might be in the eyes of any observer, her entire form from far away resembles that of a walking grasshopper.

"It's - _hiccup!_ - it's more of the fact that . . . everyone else's reason for joining this delegation seemed so much more noble than my own, you understand what I am implying, Mr. Claude?"

"I see," I nodded appreciatively.

"Rena wishes to find the truth of her mysterious origins and cared so much for her dying world that she risked her life just as everyone else did to save it. Celine knew that with her arcane powers she had a chance to stop the evil lurking within Eluria that was causing Expel to slowly ebb away. Precis desired to venture out into the strange world she had never before stepped into beyond Linga, and finally accomplish a feat that would make her feel as though she were worth something to her new friends whose delegation she had asked to join. And I . . . . Whereas I joined the rest of you merely to have assistance in finding a lost love. At least that's what my intention was at first; it's not just that anymore."

"Such humility is a trait to certainly be found admirable in women, my dear Miss Opera," was all I could say.

"I suppose that I am being rather silly, Mr. Claude," she sighed, after imbibing the last bit of ale and, apparently satisfied with the current service, slamming the mug down to the table (almost shattering it) with a final _hiccup!_ "I am grateful, in conclusion, that you have openly accepted me from the very moment you all asked me to join you, while the rest appeared to harbor some suspicions, . . . not that I have reason to blame them for that," she hastily assured.

For all of the bar's gloomily calm atmosphere, my ears at that point detected the sounds of piano keys being played by a female Nedian in a far corner of the room. "We are friends by whim of fate, after all, Miss Opera," I said. "At least that's what I assume. And this friendship will continue on regardless of whether we succeed in beating the Wisemen, . . . or die together fighting."

A little flustered, Opera bashfully brushed a strand of blonde hair back over her left ear. "You're very kind, Mr. Claude," she folded both hands under her chin and allowed her arms to come to rest on the table's surface, smiling plaintively at me. "Perhaps if my heart did not already belong to someone else, I would allow myself to grow much closer to you than this." She laughed lightheartedly.

"Who, me?" I tried to look innocent. "I'm really not all that much ideal for a woman of your nobility, regardless, Miss Opera."

Opera winked one eye. "Such love is not meant to exist between two people of contrasting race, Mr. Claude, so do not get so nervous. Would you care to join me for the next mug of ale?"

"No thank you, my dear," I politely turned her down, and rose from the table. "A mere shot of Egg Nog would probably be all that is necessary for me to disappear from the solar system with half the female population of Nede . . . . Excuse me."

Amused, Opera giggled, but did not say anything else as I retreated from the room. Before I was about to walk back up the steps that led to the balcony, I turned back and spoke to her, while she was still gazing intently at me, "By the way, Miss Opera, that tiny gem in the middle of your forehead that you call a third eye is hardly even noticeable, anyway."

Unable to find Rena back inside the Giveaway sanctuary, I decided to head back up towards the university to find Professor Noel. On the way, I saw that I had formerly overlooked a small house to my right that was no bigger than any of the other establishments in the village. Although I was becoming desperate to find some warmth again from the cozy indoors, my curiosity was strong enough to drive me forward. The house appeared abandoned.

I hurried, while making sure not to cause a great racket with my footsteps just in case someone were still inside, up the stone steps, driven to make this exploration quick by the fact that it was beginning to snow for the third time since my friends and I had entered Giveaway, and silently pushed on the front door, praying that its rusted hinges wouldn't create too disturbing a sound. Immediately my eyes fell on a Nedian female who stood straight ahead of me in the room beyond with her back turned, and on reflex I ducked to the side of the door frame against the porch railing, wincing at the harsh creak of the door as it slowly swiveled all the way around the inside.

After a moment, I timidly peeked around the doorway to see that the Nedian was gazing expectantly in my direction. "Please forgive the intrusion, Miss," I instinctively shifted to a stock-still position and bowed in sudden humility, seeing that this girl was fairly cute. "I did not intend to disturb you. I was merely wondering if you had happened to see . . . ."

"- Professor Noel?" The emerald-haired Nedian finished my sentence, shyly laughing at my sudden resolution. "Oh, might you be a friend of his, young traveler?"

"Uhhh, . . . yeah, that's right," I tried to smile, growing a little on edge from the piercing fashion in which the sapphire eyes of that young (younger than I, at least) Nedian girl gazed at me. "Can you tell me if he is here, Miss?"

"Yes, he's just upstairs," she answered, nodding towards the staircase in the northwest corner of the foyer where I was standing, while she continued to bustle about some housekeeping business in the kitchen beyond. "Please feel free to go up and see him. And there really is no need to be so formal, Mr.-"

"- Claude Kenni," I felt my courage coming back, and boldly took one step forward to her. "And your name would be?"

"Um . . . . Oh! My name is Chermes, Chermes Selest," she replied, giving some reverence by bowing, herself. "Just 'Chermes' will do, sir."

"Of course," I bowed quickly again and backed defensively toward the stairs. "Glad to have met you, Miss."

"Glad to have met you as well, Mr. Kenni," Chermes winked and turned back to her business in the other room.

I could see a few shafts of light spilling across the dark green wall at the top of the stairs, and I wondered to myself, as I ascended the darkened stairway, if there really was anything past this wall on the second floor, and that it was not just a dead end as it appeared to be. The small space at the top immediately opened up into a short hallway to my east, which ended at an open doorway to what I assumed to be Noel's study.

When I peeked around the corner of the room, there was the Professor himself, standing at a large wooden desk at the head of the room, appearing to be absorbed in writing into some sort of textbook. The bright sunlight of the setting sun outside streamed through white blinds of the window that covered almost the entire width of the wall that the desk stood against, providing enough light for Noel to clearly see what he was doing without the necessity of any light from within the room.

I promptly cleared my throat to give acknowledgement of my presence, and Noel turned. "Oh, it's you, Mr. Claude," he tried to smile plaintively, his advanced age revealing itself in that grin. "So, it's become clear that you have managed to find my humble dwelling here at last, and now you have a general idea of what my life was like before I left Giveaway. Are you and our other friends already prepared to leave?"

I laughed nervously, and tried to shrug off the thoughts I was having of what possible fates could be awaiting us on this next part of our journey. "Feel free to continue your work, Professor," I shook my head. "That ominously looming mountain to the south that Mayor Narl calls the Field of Power can wait for at least one evening. It already appears frightening enough to me from all the way out here."

"Why, Mr. Claude, I never imagined that you could have a 'fraidy-cat' side to you," Noel laughed, scratching the side of his scarecrow-like light brown hair. "By the way, I take it that you have had the pleasure of meeting Miss Chermes Selest back downstairs?"

"Most certainly, Professor," I nodded, and allowed myself to sort of fall back to a resting position against the wall near the stairway. "And might I add that with her beauty she certainly stands out among even the other Nedian women. I was more than honored, and taken aback, I admit, to have become acquainted with your daughter, Noel."

Noel looked puzzled upon this. "My daughter?" He raised an eyebrow, then, after a moment, he began to chuckle. "My Heavens, Mr. Claude, whatever made you think she was one of my own?"

The manner in which he said this somehow made me feel a little foolish for my assumption. "So she is not related to you at all, then," it was beginning to dawn on me that my gaze was tending to stay lowered away from Noel. "If I may be so intrusive, Professor, I have yet to see any sign of your family around here, . . . now that I think about it. Are they perhaps living elsewhere in Nede?"

Noel looked a little sad when I asked that question, but he responded to it, anyway. "All the members of my existing family are long gone, now, Mr. Claude, and I never . . . began a family of my own." He depressed the button on his pen and deftly slammed the book he had been writing into shut. "I'm afraid that I never found a destined love in all of my life here in Giveaway, and, of course, certainly never while I lived alone all the way up north near the animal sanctuary. And now, I fear that I am getting a bit too advanced in age to be resuming my search for a wife." Upon this last statement, he sighed heavily and carefully placed the book on the sill of the window in front of him.

"Ah, . . . I see," I began to subconsciously scratch my chin. There fell a heavy silence upon the room as Noel gazed intently out into the wintery evening of Giveaway. The sky outside was becoming a light shade of violet, and flurries of snow were still falling. "Then . . . ."

"Miss Chermes is merely a former student of mine, from back when I made my living as a professor of the University of Giveaway, and we had become fast friends, therefore," Noel turned back to me and smiled sheepishly. "She has been tending to my estate during the few years that I lived out of the village, which is why she is here, now. And, Mr. Claude, as far as I am aware, Chermes has yet to . . . find someone to love, shall I say. You sounded as though you had become somewhat smitten with her during your recent meeting."

"Well, perhaps just a little," I admitted, refusing to look Noel in the eyes. "So it would seem as though you act as a sort of alternate father figure to the dear lass."

Although the Professor was well advanced in age, and the color in his face was becoming pale, he appeared to be blushing a little. "Unfortunately, I have had to take that job rather seriously, for Chermes had lost her true father a long time to the demons that have been roaming about Nede. A very tragic turn of events, I must say."

I nodded sympathetically, and slowly raised myself up from against the doorway and back to a standing position. "I understand, then you are to be commended for trying to make up for that loss by looking out for her."

"Thank you, Claude," Noel's pointed ears suddenly perked up without warning, as though he were somehow trying to listen for a certain sound that I could not detect, while managing to stay with the conversation at the same time. "And, if I might dare say, although I have witnessed almost every man in Giveaway chasing Miss Chermes around in hopes that she will turn and smile back at them - rather than just innocently shrugging them off - in reply to their hopeless flirtations, it would bring much joy and comfort to this old heart of mine to see a fine and noble young man like you joining their ranks. Shall I formerly introduce you to her?"

"Well, if you believe that you'd best be suited as the third wheel, Professor," I laughed, crossing the room to playfully slap the back of Noel's shoulder. "Then I would be grateful to oblige to your wishes." I had been wondering all the while why he appeared to be grinning mischievously in my general direction, when my ears picked up a sound from behind me, and at once on I hastily turned around to see Chermes standing patiently near the top of the staircase. Needless to say, I felt my face begin to blush deeply, yet I managed to glance toward Noel and, with a look from my eyes, silently speak, "You had somehow heard Chermes' coming up the stairs without my own awareness of it, yet you continued our conversation at the risk of her overhearing, didn't you, Professor? That's quite a way of setting me up, I must admit."

Noel just smiled and shrugged, as he returned a look of his own that answered, "I had to find some way to get the ball rolling on you two, didn't I?"

I sighed heavily, unable to say anything more. "What can I do for you, dear Chermes?" Noel turned to her.

Chermes gave me a shy smile, then asked the Professor, "Is there anything else you require of me before I return home?"

"No, that will be all, thank you, Miss Chermes," he approached the entrance to the study and delicately shook her hand. "However, I will remain here for quite a while longer before I can complete my work, so would you be so kind as to leave a glass of tea on the downstairs table for me on your way out?"

"Right away, Professor," she bowed to him and turned on her heels to go back down the staircase. "Good luck on the journey you shall be resuming tomorrow morning," she added, shifting her face momentarily to give him a sidelong smile.

"Of course, and please be careful on your way home, my dear, for the last traces of day are now fading."

"I shall," Chermes giggled modestly, and was about to disappear from the study, but she turned back to me and said with as much innocence as she could muster, "Mr. Claude?"

"Yes, Miss Chermes?" I gulped, but was determined to remain calm.

"I am flattered that you think so highly of me, yet . . . ."

"Yet?" I asked, puzzled.

". . . Yet you must not be so content to be looking after me any longer, Mr. Claude," Chermes' sapphire eyes appeared a little thoughtful, and somewhat melancholy. "You possess too good a heart to turn so easily away from the face of the one girl whom you are truly in love with, and who can possibly love you in return." And at that, she picked up the hem of her long dress and, with a silent sob, ran back down the stairs.

I stood, in quiet shock, just staring in confusion after Chermes, wondering how on Earth she could have possibly discovered that I had been thinking of her in such a way since my first meeting with her not thirty minutes ago, and I turned back to the Professor, only to see that his back was already turned to me, having resumed his former task.

". . . Sometimes we Nedians tend to speak unbelievable things that we could have been made to speak only by the will of a superior being," Noel solemnly murmured, without even looking at me. "Yet there can be no denying the truth of her words, Mr. Claude. Please leave now."

I remained in the study for a few moments longer, still trying to decipher the meaning off all that had happened in the last several minutes. And then, just like that, I thought of what Chermes, although she could not have known what I truly harbored inside my heart, had been trying to force me to realize, myself. Why else had I been so concerned about being close enough to be able to come to that girl's aid when she seemed in be in such distress throughout this entire day? I had fallen in love with Rena Lanford.

The first hour of night had descended upon Nede as I trudged down the stone path from Noel's estate to the inn where my friends and I would be staying for the night. I suspected that they all would already be inside, prepared to turn in until the next morning, for I saw no one else in the village who remained outside on my way back. Plus, I knew by now that these days just being outside in Nede during the nighttime was dangerous - even within the boundaries of villages - with all of the wild beasts on the loose out there.

What I didn't expect was my meeting with only Rena alone up on the third floor of the inn (which, I assumed, was the room Professor Noel had earlier said that he had so graciously reserved for all of us). I found her standing at the south end of the floor with her back turned to me, as she gazed solemnly out of a diamond-paned window at the snowfall outside. She had not heard my ascent from the floor below, so I quickly ducked back down below the third floor and stood momentarily in the middle of the staircase, a million sudden thoughts pouring through my mind. It was no coincidence that, out of the six others in this band, only Rena was up there, and that I myself had arrived at just the right moment; what were the odds? Though she had failed to notice me here, I saw with much dread that there was no turning back now. I had resolved right after Chermes' departure from Noel's study to make my confession to Rena the very first moment I could somehow get her separated from the others. I could not afford to pass up this chance.

I took a deep breath, silently bade my heart to stop its nervous beating, and slowly tiptoed back up to the top of the stairs. Rena remained exactly where she stood, still staring out into the night with a blissfully thoughtful expression on her delicate face. Her face was revealed perfectly to me from her reflection in the glass, and I could tell that it would take quite a bit of noise to break her of her peaceful trance. She sighed deeply, as though she were waiting with bated breath for the rising moon's enchanted rays to fall upon the face of her destined beloved. "Keep thy gentle heart at such peace, dear girl," I heard myself whisper. "For what I am soon to confess to you neither those elfish ears nor that naive heart of yours will be able to fathom."

But then, as luck would have it, I accidentally hit a weakened area of the aged wooden floor as I silently swept across the room to her, resulting in disturbing Rena with a loud, creaking footstep. She instinctively turned her pretty face to me, and immediately tried to rid of the solemn, thoughtful expression that she had been wearing, replacing it with an attempted bright and cheerful smile. "Oh, M - Mr. Claude . . . ." She brushed a strand of midnight-colored hair from her eyes, and blushed just a little. "Y - You . . . startled me."

I suddenly felt compelled to lower my gaze, with some timidity, away from her. "Please, forgive me for having intruded on your seclusion like that," I said, lightly scratching the hair just above my right ear. "You appeared as though you were thinking quite intently about something, so I felt somewhat obligated to make sure you were feeling all right."

Rena smiled sheepishly, slowly crossing the room to me, and, as innocently as she could, took my hand in hers. "Would you truly wish to find out just what torments both my mind and my heart, my friend?" She queried, a look of great concern in her eyes, rather than that usual mischievous gleam.

I nodded. "You are quite aware that, by now, after all of this time we have been journeying across the stars together, I am devoted to assisting you through any troubles you might be afflicted with, are you not, my sweet Rena?"

"Mr. Claude," she laughingly scolded, "I have long ago accepted that you desire to be only the most formal when calling me by name, but I certainly never expected that you might call me something so seemingly intimate as your 'sweet Rena'."

I looked away. "So adept are you at teasing those of the opposite gender who get too close, and yet you seem so perfectly cute and harmless. Just how many thousands of hearts have you been forced to break in your seventeen years of life in the world?"

Rena's face flushed deeply, to my amusement. "Ummm, . . . you really think that most boys find me cute?" She asked, leaning upward to look me close in the face, a hopeful glimmer in her beautiful gold-colored eyes.

_ This is it_, I thought to myself. _Whether she can return this love that I possess for her or not, I must do this. As far as I can justify my very existence in this galaxy, there is no other purpose for my being placed in this world_. "There can be no doubt, dear Rena," I stated defiantly. "My eyes certainly have never been able to stray from you since the first moment we met -"

The Expellian maiden made no hesitation to stop my words. "Mr. Claude," she held up a hand, probably devastated by her own knowledge that the color in both of her cheeks had become blood-red. "From this hopeless flattery that you have so cleverly gathered the courage to speak, I would speculate that you are desperately trying to tell me something else, yet this is your way of trying to avoid doing so . . . . What is weighing so heavily on you?"

I sighed, momentarily staring at the dim light overhead while mentally trying once again to cling to what little courage I truly had, then gazed back down into Rena's adoring face, amused at the naive fashion in which her pointed ears crazily twitched, yet captivated by the holy beauty of her gentle maiden's eyes. "If I may avoid that for just a moment," I tried to state without any falter in my voice. "Might I first come to understand what has been troubling you these last few days?"

A moment passed, and then, ". . . All right, Mr. Claude," she bowed her head slightly, and, her former downhearted thoughts returning, as she had to reclaim them simply to open her heart to me as I had asked, I saw that a single crystalline tear brimmed the edge of her left eye. "If what I am about to confess will cease your worry for me, then I see no regret in telling you." She took a deep breath, and, straightening her shoulders and defiantly facing me, she spoke, "The truth is that I, Rena Lanford - the ever-cheerful, ever-optimistic, always-has-her-mind-in-the-clouds teenage girl of a small and simple world whose inhabitants rely only on coexistence and love to survive - has suddenly lost her confidence in her own individuality; in her own _existence_. My past, nor my origin, has ever been made clear to me, yet they both should give me comfort that I am . . . _who I am_. But instead, they give me only insecurity that consistently tugs at my heart and tries to withhold my personal happiness - that happiness I feel just being alive; the simple bliss I should feel being an ordinary human female blessed with life by the hand of a superior being." And here Rena stopped momentarily, steadfastly clutching the leaf-shaped pendant that hung around her neck to her breast (the one I had given her for her birthday one day back in Expel), as though it were a form of reassurance for her.

"And yet I am not, . . . not any longer. Ever since the day I became resolved to assist you on your journey to save my world from fading away to nothing but a tragic memory, Mr. Claude, I have been desperately struggling against a darkness that is consuming me, and my once comfortable and blissful life has been disturbed by one chaotic battle after another, and those battles are not just against evil forces in the physical reality, but they are also against inner demons who are trying to control my soul by attacking me with feelings of self-doubt when I need confidence in who I am the most.

"My world seems as though it has been turned upside down by a multitude of questions that should not be tormenting a typical human girl such as I, . . . if I can even look at myself as ordinary, anymore. Am I truly a Nedian child? Or was Mayor Narl wrong and it actually turns out that I am of Expel? What happened in my distant past, which I cannot begin to recollect, that has fated me to fight against those ten horrible men who wish to rule over all of creation? Am I . . . even _human_? I couldn't bear to think that I was born some sort of monster, Mr. Claude. I just couldn't!"

Rena began to cry softly, piteously. I don't know whether she intended to or not, but she allowed herself to fall against my shoulder, and I could do nothing at the moment but try as I might to console her. "I do not know of anyone who could answer those questions but yourself, my dear Rena," I mused. "But I can easily state that I do not believe you could possibly be a monster, as you have obviously sometimes wondered. I have not ever heard of something so senseless. You are, simply, Rena Lanford: a modest heroine praised and beloved by many thousands across the worlds in this galaxy for the will and bravery she has shown in fighting for their freedom from the oppression of darkness - a girl whose heart is delicate, whose spirit is ethereal, and whose nature is innocent and sweet."

At this, Rena momentarily tried to withhold her tears, and with a quiet snivel of her tiny button nose, she looked back up at me from where her head was buried into my shoulder. Her cheeks still stained with a bright shade of rose, she stammered, "Just wh - what are you trying to tell me, Mr. Claude?"

_ Steel yourself, Claude_, I thought. _This is it_. "I have no regrets," with some timidity, I drew one arm around her delicate shoulders. I hoped my hold on her was secure enough that she would not be able to pull away, but, knowing how squeamish Rena was when it came to someone expressing some form of affection for her, she would probably try to. ". . . I have fallen in love with you . . . ."

No sooner had I spoken this did Rena's tiny-statured body freeze and, the beating of her restless heart now the only movement or sound left within her, her breath caught in her throat, she just gazed in shock at me for what seemed like several moments, the reflection of the moon's silver light in her eyes trembling as much as her heart probably was at that moment.

"M - Mr. Claude . . . ." she could barely speak. Rena simply could not comprehend the possibility that any man could come to develop such a strong love and desire for her, so pure and innocent was she. "Wh - Why . . . .?"

I held the back of one hand to the edge of Rena's left eye to stem the flow of her tears, and wiped away the already existing river of liquid diamond on her cheek. "How could I have not come to love you with a love that shall last forever, sweet Rena? You are noble and beautiful, in my sight nothing less than an angel descended from the Heavens themselves. Fate has destined me to give up my heart to you and to honor and revere only you for all eternity. I know that you think of me as just some hopeless skirt-chaser, and I understand that you will never be able to return this love back to me. I . . . only beseech that you can be so kind as to accept my feelings for you into your heart and that you do not hate me or think poorly of me because of that love."

Rena's eyes were trying to avoid mine, a saddened expression on her pretty face, her delicate chest still heaving wildly. "I . . . I am . . . ." Her voice was very quiet, hardly a whisper. Had I truly caused her so much embarrassment that she was this speechless? "Never . . . . How could I possess hatred for you as restitution for such words as the ones you have spoken?"

"Because I myself am not worthy to possess your heart, as well, as you possess mine," I answered quietly, though I was not staring into Rena's eyes at the moment, but rather over her still squeamish pointed ears and out into the starry night. "Will you be all right, Rena?"

She glanced back up at me, and suddenly a bright smile crossed her face. "Yes, of course!" She closed her eyes and began to laugh uncontrollably, unmistakably just as a little girl in light spirit would. To me, Rena's laughter was the sweetest known sound in the world. "I cannot express how truly overjoyed I am that this moment has finally come! For, now my own heart can be given up to you in return!" And at that, she threw her arms around me and held her face just below mine against my shoulder, tears, now of a joyous nature, flowing once again.

There never had been a moment in my entire earthly existence that I felt greater joy and contentment than this moment. The dream within a dream at last realized, I sighed, drawing Rena's blood-red cloak more tightly around her to cease her body's mad shuddering. I was not at all worthy of her, yet Rena took pity upon the man who was only too happy to live the rest of his life just for her. "My dear girl, fate has no doubt brought us together, and fate will not dare ever allow me to betray my love for you. For the rest of eternity, even into Heaven, I pray that the girl whose servant, whose protector I now live to be will allow me to remain at her precious side, and so not an inch shall I allow her to stray from my embrace."

"Forever, Mr. Claude?" The Expellian mistress stammered, gazing timidly up at me, her emerald heart still pounding heavily in its purity. The starry sky had cast forth its magnificent hazy moonbeams against her pretty eyes that were as shadowy waves upon the ocean at midnight. "That is how long you will stay with me? And nothing or no one shall ever be able to tear us away from each other?"

Before saying another word, and without any hesitant thought, I tilted Rena's chin upward with one hand to make certain her eyes could no longer escape me, only to see her paling face turn ruby-red as I knelt to defiantly kiss her on the lips.

"Forever, Rena . . . ."

Written by,

_Sarah's Knight_


End file.
